this is. chuck hagel is officially sworn in as the new u.s. secretary of defense after winning narrow senate approval for his policies are drawing fire from capitol hill with his own fellow republicans among his most vocal critics. it's elise in chaos after the parliamentary election fails to produce a clear winner is european leaders fear the country's political turmoil could have a strong negative effect on the entire eurozone expert comment coming home. and. this for a minor literally traffic offense the shocking video posted by a russian couple of their eight year old daughter driving on public roads is it dangerous.

even if you just joined us eleven pm now here in moscow it's kevin owen live at r t h q with you in our top story chuck hagel is now officially the u.s. defense secretary but only after being narrowly approved by the senate he's been under fire from fellow republicans for his past criticism of the iraq war and the israeli lobby with some believing he also could be too soft on iran it's also of course just two days before billions of dollars in budget cuts to hit the military garniture can now on the clash on capitol hill. chuck hagel was confirmed by the senate fifty eight votes for forty one vote against a narrow vote as you can see if he can find a movie ball that apologizing and repenting behind and he had to do a lot of that to get the job has been working very hard to tailor his views so as to please congress as a senator chuck hagel allowed himself to oppose the surge in iraq or to criticize israel's policies to oppose seeing war with iran as an option but as the

president's nominee for the defense secretary position he backtracked on much of what he had said before and did it as as even his supporters noted in a rather clumsy way but in a way that showed how much he wanted the job and the whole confirmation process including the attack campaign against him including the filibuster ten days ago showed how intolerant the u.s. congress is of alternative thought on foreign policy ten days ago the senators knew quite well that chuck hagel would eventually be confirmed but they chose to block the vote as many say just to make a point president obama certainly knew that chuck hagel confirmation process would not go as smoothly as say john kerry's but he nominated him anyway it looks like president obama too wanted to make a point this is his last term he doesn't have to think about getting reelected and it is a good time for him to make a point by the end of his first term the degree of warmongering in washington has escalated and we should the point where even the president said there's too much work talking going on now mandating chuck hagel could be goes way over bringing it

down a notch the president is also quite aware of the general war fatigue in the country but the u.s. congress doesn't seem to have that same war fatigue as chuck hagel confirmation hearing showed quite to the contrary never too tired for war it seems one more thing it's saying important to point out here chuck hagel as defense secretary not be in a position to generate policies is there to fulfill the president's policies probably his main job will be managing the budget the biggest military budget in the world and figuring out where to make cuts but most of the questions senators asked during his confirmation hearing were about policies which is really not going to be in his field of work anyway. garbage can they're coming up so tonight we ask will another new face in american politics make a difference in syria secretary of state john kerry says washington ready to aid the syrian rebels as anti assad fighters wait for arms support from the west to back it because of another bit more closely just

a bit later next though. at least looking for a way out of its election limbo after that hung parliament put europe on tenterhooks and raised fears of fresh financial turmoil again world stock markets mostly rose though on wednesday offsetting the jitters they initially suffered no parties won a parliamentary majority there the center left group secured a narrow victory in the lower house but failed to win the senate former prime minister silvio berlusconi's center right long time second biggest in the upper chamber now the results show italian voters strongly rejected the austerity policies of mario monti's government if the rival parties can't find a where they're deadlocked they will have to be another election investment advisor patrick young told us a tally the uncertainty could prove fatal though for the eurozone. but your real crisis that elephant in the room that nobody was talking about so far this year is back and it's back big time because ultimately fifty seven percent of the talents don't like the idea of a sturdy and they don't really want to do the sorts of things that the european

union will supposed upon them that's causing us a huge problem because ultimately you've got incredible new parties like betty greeley or surf ice storm movement you've got an incredible wave of support that came back from mr berlusconi a former prime minister and so billy nations and of course not i it isn't the worst possible political limbo there's no clear ike right winger there's no clear government it's going to take weeks on end and ultimately markets despise the idea of uncertainty and what they're looking out at the moment is an awful uncertainty because they simply don't know whether it really is going to be a reliable member of the euro zone and if it really is not going to be able to reliable member of the euro zone then there probably is not going to be a euro zone the european union is affectively trying to support its banking industry which has never recovered from the creative mortgage lending excesses of two thousand and seven two thousand and eight and that leaves us with a very delicate position but ultimately should investors lose money because of bad

investment decisions well as an investor and advisor i have to say that's what we call capitalism that's what's happened it shouldn't just be a case of the poor people innocent people are forced to suffer incredible austerity a propos of bailing i'd investors and bankers. it's the stalemates the media agenda across europe two of his paper all of his belief in through some of the german newspapers and their concerns about how the key players might affect the why the european economy. the ongoing political turmoil in italy is making headlines not just in that country put around the world here in germany all of the major newspapers just about a carrying the talian election story on their front pages with many saying this well stalemate in italy means concern for the rest of europe the reason for that concern is that well if they can't be any agreement made on how that country should be run and it could be that if it's really sneezes politically then europe gets

a severe cold economically and that's the big fear so no i'm going for a more jokey look at it more some of the tabloids portraying the perhaps four front runners and cartoon form on the front saying neither left nor right nobody knows what they want. the true though that they're getting most of the focus of the former comedian ben good in law the former prime minister silvio berlusconi now the discussion between those two is repeated again in some of the more conservative newspapers here in germany those newspapers though also not giving much pity to the italian people they go on to say that it's really not remain governable that it must get back on track and let's get back to austerity it does seem though that as far as the german newspapers are concerned and most of the rest of the german media

the italian people find themselves with a clown to the left of them a joke to the right and they're stuck in the middle with very little idea of what they want politically. now there's little sign of progress following nuclear talks between iran and six world powers to run however hailed the point of the negotiations earlier to be offered some relief own sunshines in return for limiting uranium enrichment the sides agreed to meet again in april global strategy list hillary mann leverett told me despite the small move forward though in recognizing iran's rights big changes are needed to avert war breaking out the critical issue for the iranians and i think this is where they perceived a slight and i stress slight movement on the u.s. side is in the recognition of their rights their sovereignty to enrich uranium what that does is not solve the problem but it allows a process to go forward of negotiations and suddenly go she ations over how much

the united states and other key parties are going to allow iran to exercise its rights as iran continues. to go forward and speak to a program in the rest of its in the west of its ways that it's amassing massing real power in the middle east the united states and particularly its allies israel and saudi arabia will be increasingly uncomfortable with that and i don't know for how long they will be constrained both those allies and their friends here in washington constrained by this these these negotiations because these negotiations are not really intended to resolve the problem it may be something that is delayed for another year but i think we are if we don't change our policy in some fundamentally ways were on a trajectory toward toward war with iran will return to stand a problem to try and solve the longstanding nuclear deadlock with the iranian people though are already feeling the repercussions of those existing sanctions facing medicine food shortages the use of today on this story and it isn't

important tonight. in an effort to stop tehran's nuclear program western countries have used an arsenal of crippling economic sanctions over the years in the interim america and its allies may have started a widespread medical crisis for the iranian people hundreds of thousands of iranians with serious illnesses such as cancer diabetes and all three of us can't reportedly receive lifesaving medicines because of international sanctions due to banking restrictions imposed by u.s. and european governments companies and hospitals in iran say they are on able to purchase pharmaceuticals from abroad now according to reports an estimated twenty three thousand iranians with hiv or aids have had their life saving medication restricted and medicine shortages for splits since specific blood disorders have allegedly resulted in many deaths already i spoke with an iranian american who recently visited iran bringing his grandmother meds for her diabetes and off

rightists alex shams told me that the stock of pain relievers he packed was for a hospital the people who are the most vulnerable the people with the most special kind of cancer or. illnesses they're the ones who right now are feeling the pinch the hospital that i brought medicine back there was a cancer hospital and they're right now anticipating that they won't have tylenol in the short in a very short period of time but they're asking people to hoard tylenol and bring it back. unfortunately that's how they're doing with tylenol i can't even begin to imagine what how their stockpiles of cancer medicine are looking right now the latest round of u.s. and european sanctions have caused iran's currency to plummet and oil revenue to slash which in turn has pushed up inflation critics say western countries have unleashed catastrophic economic warfare against ordinary iranian citizens so far producing all harm and no good they have weapons of mass destruction. now very very

blunt instrument of fuse against nations sanctions the way that they're being propagated by the usa by europe and indeed to a certain degree by the un against iran really very hopeful they don't achieve their objectives that penalizing the ordinary person and i think it is totally unethical and immoral that we have to be very very care full about what happens which is why i think a retooling and readjustment of the sanctions in this medical area is is critical within a very short time because as this begins to spiral so too then does the black or the cheering many experts warn that if the u.s. continues leaving a path of sanction destruction against iran the circumstance can manifest into a repeat of iraq in the ninety's marina port ny r.t.

new york. still to come in the program next and saying the vatican pope benedict lives his final public address before we take a look at what the catholic church needs to do next that the bright. side to road. yeah this eight year old girl really is driving at one hundred kilometers an hour on a public road in a video that's gone viral russian police not happy. we talk about it next.

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hello again pope benedict's final public address before leaving the vatican is drawing tens of thousands to some peter's square the pontiff will become the first pope to step down in six centuries on friday leading pretty secular campaign a case porteous would spoke to me said the catholic leaders are gonna have to make some big changes to deal with the fallout from worldwide child abuse and other scandals to. i'm certainly aware of two major issues over child abuse that are going to come up and are going to be very very hard for the vatican to swallow

because it's not just that there are the child abuse bad though that is issues it's actually that the finger of blame is going to be pointing at the vatican for having obstructed justice in all the secret files where it released so that's going to look very bad and i think people are going to get less and less tolerance about that in the vatican has shown no real sign of actually coming to terms with this and putting its hands up and really atoning for its power sins and being much more open and and dealing more properly with victims and actually getting the people who perpetrated these crimes. turned over to the police the outgoing pope has packed the college of cardinals with people who are as if not more conservative than he has so it's going to be pretty hard but if they've got any sense they're actually look and see that the vast majority of catholics don't actually agree with all their positions on on these sensitive social issues and i think they need to

actually look at their own congregation and start taking some signs from that and be much more sensible over issues like contraception homosexuality abortion all those kind of things and actually be open to. on matters like child abuse and money laundering. next tonight reaching sixteen here in russia is a big moment of course for most youngsters is when they can start head i say again start but not do to get on the road to get their driver's license at the age of eighteen get a significant head start behind the wheel take a look at this video you won't like it. will go to at least one hundred your mother is filming you in. an eight year old drive in a car my friend asked what have fainted and she started this. comeback will posted on social networks i don't know what you think about the parenting skills there you

heard it correctly though that young girl they're taking this top ten german car to hundred kilometers an hour at the ripe old age of eight and she's egged on by a parent's some shockingly bad parental guidance you get a father encouraging him to put the pedal to the metal on a country road in the snow the girl's mom and dad posted the video online as well for the world to see but they soon deleted their a social network accounts after the police started investigating just to make it clear again you do have to be eighteen years old to drive in russia i think they got the one confused or right or bad driving he would want to be on this bus this is the moscow region bus driver there this is dash bang re goes into a car i didn't like that larger in front of me to done something bad didn't like it no problem offender bending there if that means teaching bad drivers a lesson or two the bus drivers names alexy if we're willing to lay off the brakes you can do to get a minute to go didn't like there was a ford or think in front of him so what's he going to do. goes out his

method to go to move all the nearly one hundred minor road accidents police never been considered at fault by the police alexy saying it's a common misconception that a person who rear ends another cars automatically considered to be the guilty party he adds is doing everyone a favor because it could cause a more serious accident or lose his license if you are forced to swerve into the lane of oncoming traffic gets a mouthful there but as a say that would be a bus to miss wouldn't it. now britain's squeezed middle class are bearing the brunt of the country struggles to revive the economy a study showing that tax hikes are leaving them two hundred eighty pounds a year worse off and many of them got no savings behind them as well it's going to be a major lifestyle cutbacks of course for many people right this is how it's panning out almost half the respondents in a poll and ipsos mori poll said they would like to have a week's holiday but they just can't afford it forty percent of people of into make do with what men furniture tatty stuff or try to put together themselves trying to

rejuvenate because there's no money to replace it almost thirty percent of working brits can't get the broken electrical goods repaired the can't afford to do it that's what it said in this day and twenty two percent said they can no longer invite friends around for parties what a state of affairs because of course entertainment is just too costly r.t. sarah firth went to find out how britain's middle class feels than about reining in the budget yet again. for a large part of her life liz hoggard has been tapping away at building a life for herself as a freelance journalist she's been part of britain's middle class seeing credit cards pay their mortgages on time and they thrived during being but then came the bust and with the decline of opportunities that were for so long a middle class perk i didn't get a contract we knew because budgets were being cut and so all those little things you have in place you always live slightly on credit you know you go into interest

in anticipation get paid quite soon that first low incomes coupled with high living costs staking fears of a shrinking little in britain is backed up in a report by the resolution foundation think tank it looked into what the future holds the ten million adults in the low to middle income households forecast another decade of hardship well unfortunately it's a bit of a grim prospect prices have risen faster than earning so quite some time now and what that means is that people. simmer about perhaps a little more but they can't buy as much with it a stark example of this is housing a couple of decades ago you've had to save for a couple of years maybe three or four years to get a deposit on a house if you're a low to middle income first time buyer at the moment you're looking at about twenty two years so middle class trimmings like foreign holidays meals out and home improvements are on hold for the time being as liz has found out she's having to

sell off possessions to pay for centuries like dental treatment. packing up these books even quotes. so it's quite emotional at times and you have a rush of memory and then you think for ten years and probably something really important i can find online that has revolutionized it but i also think. these books are. my fast meant a new way to any inching exhibition catalogues that i bought back in for not very much money just just a normal price and then of course they become rare as the years go by so in some ways my stocks and shares been sitting on my shelves which i hadn't known about when you look online and i'm something that was confronted so there is a sense of well at least i can pay for my newspaper also treating that. you know you have to not be a snob itself economic times it can be hard to keep up the parents says that's why

schemes like the one run by the store here in is that approving so popular bring along a designer clothes need to fix things at the credit which could be in the store. but it was a bit of a further structure where the first person to actually combine the dress exchange element with the charity. and introducing the exchange about your system rather than buying stock in. that kind of give and take on them as more and more families look for ways to make their money go further the government's being warned that without shared growth britain risks becoming a country of too hard the rich getting richer and the middle classes increasingly losing out meanwhile lives in a generation like a facing up to the reality that the britain's middle class is the next chapter is looking pretty bleak. london. united states could be

considering a shift on syria secretary of state john kerry who is on his first european tour right now is signal washington's readiness to support the syrian rebels so u.s. officials say washington is now thinking of giving direct assistance to opposition fighters and possibly even training them the syrian national coalition initially rejected attending the international so-called friends of syria meeting in rome on thursday in protest over what it sees is negligible help from western nations so far but the s.n.c. will never attend it says to see what's on offer the opposition accuses the u.s. and its allies of not intervening militarily and not arming the rebels dr mohamad from the syria tribune online magazine told us there's not much kerry though can add to the eight already coming. they are giving homes in the country and they are giving them free passage to and from neighboring countries they're giving them even the home of your own people the u.s. but proxies or proxies they are giving them arms weapons phone kinds of explosives

and political commission mr kerry is trying to prepare to be of the coalition for the next step which should be they all now if he thinks that by by giving them more even more political pick mission and promising them moral support on the ground he will push them for the better but only in this for they have accused definitely is fake and they have been putting a lot of pressure for this regime change and the violence on the ground did not change based on that they have tried every possible way including mr obama calling for. more than a year ago and this did not work mr kerry things that he has magic solutions that we can do things other than push him to leave power which is not known to us we don't know what he means by that but i assure you it would also enough work what mr kerry needs to do is to give a clear and loud statement that it's only fair that is the way out is actually the coalition that his president mr clinton they created should understand this and

this is the only message that cd and it's going to give. on t.v. and online r.t. stories cover the world few there is a lot of details tonight about america's web weapon a computer virus called stuxnet aimed at disrupting around nuclear research but revealing it's been waiting in the wings long before to ram was accused of anything you can read more about a lot of chatter about it on our website article on the place. also you don't see this very often people will be iron curtain tourists in north korea now getting tagged with pictures and sent tweets from the reclusive country you get a glimpse of it on our website r.t. dot com. and we bring it to date now if you will more world news headlines tonight first the deadly violence in afghanistan again where a rogue police officer drugged and shot seventeen of his colleagues with the help of local taliban militants now this attack happened at a remote police checkpoint three hundred kilometers south of kabul seven of the dead were new recruits who is still in training and just hours later

a taliban suicide bomber detonated his device after getting underneath a bus that was carrying army personnel in kabul ten people were injured. by fire at an illegal market in the city of call cut in india it's claimed at least eighteen lives of. dozens of others wounded most of the victims were porters working the sixty three building at the time from where chemicals and plastics were stored yet you guessed it toxic gases then the rescue efforts by the hundreds of firefighters have attended the early morning blaze they figured electrical fault caused it all. small clip there for now and american the classical pianist van cliburn he helps bridge cold war tensions he's died at the age of seventy eight his victory in the first overture cost international competition here in moscow back in one.